Basiliscus
Emperor of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire
430 CE to 477 CE
Basiliscus (d. 476/477) is Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor from 475 to 476.
A member of the House of Leo, he comes to power when Emperor Zeno is forced out of Constantinople by a revolt.
Basiliscus is the brother of Empress Aelia Verina, the wife of Emperor Leo I (457–474).
His relationship with the Emperor allows him to pursue a military career that, after minor initial successes, ends in 468, when he leads the disastrous Roman invasion of Vandal Africa, in one of the largest military operations of Late Antiquity.
Basiliscus succeeds in seizing power in 475, exploiting the unpopularity of Emperor Zeno, the "barbarian" successor to Leo, and a plot organized by Verina that had caused Zeno to flee Constantinople.
However, during his short rule, Basiliscus alienates the fundamental support of the Church and the people of Constantinople, promoting the Miaphysite christological position in opposition to the Chalcedonian faith.
Also, his policy of securing his power through the appointment of loyal men to key roles antagonizes many important figures in the imperial court, including his sister Verina.
So, when Zeno tries to regain his empire, he finds virtually no opposition, triumphantly entering Constantinople, and capturing and killing Basiliscus and his family.
The struggle between Basiliscus and Zeno impedes the Eastern Empire's ability to intervene in the fall of the Western Roman Empire, which happensin early September 476.
When the chieftain of the Heruli, Odoacer, deposes Western Emperor Romulus Augustus, sending the imperial regalia to Constantinople, Zeno had just regained his throne, and he can only appoint Odoacer dux of Italy, thereby ending the Western Roman Empire.
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Basiliscus, likely of Balkan origin, is the brother of Aelia Verina, wife of Leo I.
It has been argued that Basiliscus was uncle to the chieftain of the Heruli, Odoacer.
This link is based on the interpretation of a fragment by John of Antioch (209.1), which states that Odoacer and Armatus, Basiliscus' nephew, were brothers.
However, not all scholars accept this interpretation, since sources do not say anything about the foreign origin of Basiliscus.
It is known that Basiliscus had a wife, Zenonis, and at least one son, Marcus.
Basiliscus' military career had started under Leo I, when the Emperor conferred upon his brother-in-law the dignities of dux, or commander-in-chief, in Thrace.
In this country, Basiliscus had led a successful military campaign against the Bulgars in 463.
Succeeding Rusticius as magister militum per Thracias in 464, he had had several successes against the Goths and Huns (466 or 467).
Basiliscus's value had risen in Leo's consideration.
Verina's intercession in favor of her brother has helped Basiliscus' military and political career, with the conferral of the consulship in 465 and possibly of the rank of patricius.
However, his rise is soon to meet a serious reversal.
In 468, Leo chooses Basiliscus as leader of the later famous military expedition against Carthage.
The invasion of the kingdom of the Vandals is one of the greatest military undertakings recorded in the annals of history, a combined amphibious operation with over ten thousand ships and one hundred thousand soldiers.
The purpose of the operation is to punish the Vandal king Genseric for the sacking of Rome in 455, in which the former capital of the Western Roman Empire had been overwhelmed, and the Empress Licinia Eudoxia (widow of Emperor Valentinian III) and her daughters had been taken as hostages.
Ancient and modern historians provide different estimations for the number of ships and troops under the command of Basiliscus, as well as for the expenses of the expedition.
Both are enormous; Nicephorus Gregoras speaks of one hundred thousand ships, the more reliable Cedrenus says that the fleet that attacked Carthage consisted of eleven hundred and thirteen ships, having each one hundred men on board.
The most conservative estimation for expedition expenses is of sixty-four thousand pounds of gold, a sum that exceeds a whole year's revenue.
It is the greatest fleet ever sent against the Vandals; the expense brings Leo near to bankruptcy.
Marcellinus was supposed to have a command of some ten thousand to twenty thousand troops.
Marcellinus had never sailed for Africa, perhaps due to Ricimer's veto; either he would not spare so many troops to become bogged in a campaign in Africa, hoping the East would do the job for him, or he resented the military capabilities of Marcellinus who was obviously the favorite of Anthemius.
Regardless of the reason, Marcellinus’s inabiity to participate in the campaign, coupled with Basiliscus’s blundering in the Battle of Cape Bon, assured that the operation would result in failure.
The West has lost its only chance to regain Africa from the Vandals and possibly stave off its demise.
Marcellinus is reached in Sicily by Basiliscus; the general is, however, assassinated, perhaps at the instigation of Ricimer, by one of his own captains; and the king of the Vandals expresses his surprise and satisfaction that the Romans themselves would remove from the world his most formidable antagonists.
The Vandals reconquer Sicily, administering a decisive defeat to the Western forces.
The Roman plan of attack is concerted between Eastern Emperor Leo, Western Emperor Anthemius, and General Marcellinus, who enjoys independence in Illyricum.
Basiliscus is ordered to sail directly to Carthage, while Marcellinus attacks and takes Sardinia, and a third army, commanded by Heraclius of Edessa, lands on the Libyan coast east of Carthage, making rapid progress.
It appears that the combined forces met in Sicily, whence the three fleets moved at different periods.
Sardinia and Libya have already been conquered by Marcellinus and Heraclius, when Basiliscus casts anchor off the Promontorium Mercurii, now Cap Bon, opposite Sicily, about forty miles from Carthage.
Genseric requests Basiliscus to allow him five days to draw up the conditions of a peace.
During the negotiations, Geiseric gathers his ships and suddenly attacks the Roman fleet.
The Vandals had filled many vessels with combustible materials.
During the night, these fire ships are propelled against the unguarded and unsuspecting Roman fleet.
The Eastern Roman commanders try to rescue some ships from destruction, but these maneuvers are blocked by the attack of other Vandal vessels.
Basiliscus flees in the heat of the battle.
One half of the Roman fleet is burned, sunk, or captured, and the other half follow the fugitive Basiliscus.
The entire expedition has failed.
Heraclius effects his retreat through the desert into Tripolitania, where he will hold the position for two years until recalled.
Aspar, with Zeno far from Constantinople, has increased his influence by having his son Julius Patricius appointed Caesar and married to Leo I's younger daughter, Leontia, in 470.
Sources are contradictory on the causes, but clearly state that in 471, Leo I had Aspar and Ardabur treacherously killed, certainly with Zeno's and Basiliscus' approval, as in the eve of the murders, the two generals had moved closer to Constantinople (Zeno was at Chalcedon).
Zeno returns to Constantinople after their death and is appointed magister militum praesentalis.
This event marks the consequent end of German domination over Eastern Roman policy.
The Goths, led by Theodoric Strabo, revolt in Thrace after the assassination of Aspar.
Leo I sends Basiliscus to suppress the uprising.
Theodoric called Strabo, son of Triarius, is a chieftain of the Thracian Goths; he has two brothers.
The wife of the Alan general Aspar is his sister.
Strabo has a wife, Sigilda, and a son called Recitach.
He is a contemporary of the more famous Theodoric the Amal, a Moesian Goth of the royal Amal family, who will become known as Theodoric the Great.
Around 459, he is attested as in friendly relationship with the Empire, possibly one of the foederati, and receiving an annual subsidy from Constantinople.
The Alan commander Aspar, at the time magister militum of Emperor Leo I, had been murdered in 471 by order of the emperor himself.
Strabo, who was at the command of his people in Thrace, had revolted to avenge his relative, but had been defeated by the Roman generals Zeno and Basiliscus (both will later become emperors).
However, Strabo had been able to set three conditions to end his unrest: receiving the properties left as legacy by Aspar, being allowed to settle his Goths in Thrace, and being raised to the rank of magister militum.
Since Leo has rejected the requests, offering the rank of magister militum only in exchange of an oath of loyalty, Strabo starts a military campaign against the cities of Thrace.
Part of the Gothic army attacks Philippi (or Philippopolis), while …
…Theodoric Strabo leads the remaining men to attack and occupy Arcadiopolis.
Theodoric signs a peace with Leo in 473 when the Goths run out of supplies; according to its terms, Constantinople is to pay an annual tribute of two thousand pounds of gold to the Goths, whose independence is recognized, and Strabo is to obtain the rank of magister militum.
The child emperor Leo II dies before the end of the year, after having appointed his father co-emperor of the East.
Zeno makes what is to prove a lasting peace with the Vandals in Africa.
The new regime is not particularly popular, as the people of Constantinople are antipathetic to Zeno’s barbarian origins.
Furthermore, the strong Germanic portion of the military, led by Theodoric Strabo, dislikes the Isaurian officers that Leo I had brought in to reduce his dependency on the Ostrogoths.
Finally, Zeno alienates his fellow Isaurian general Illus, his most trusted adviser, who plots a coup d'etat with Leo I's brother-in-law Basiliscus and Verina.
A popular revolt against the emperor starts within the capital in 475.
The uprising receives military support by Theodoric Strabo, Illus and Armatus and succeeds in taking control of Constantinople.
Verina persuades her son-in-law to leave the city.
Zeno flees to his native lands, bringing with him some of the Isaurians living in Constantinople, and the imperial treasury.
Basiliscus is now acclaimed as Augustus on January 9, 475, at the Hebdomon palace, by the palace ministers and the Senate.
The mob of Constantinople takes its revenge, killing almost all of the Isaurians left in the city.
Basilicius supports the Monophysites, who gain control of the key sees of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.
However Basiliscus soon manages to estrange himself from most of his key collaborators.